|
Kelly Denison takes Non-Wing Sprint Main at Hollywood Hills Speedway
6-23-2007
by Bob Ingram / Beth Hazlewood
San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico. On a very warm night a great crowd was on hand to see some thrilling racing at Hollywood Hills Speedway. On the card tonight were the Non-Winged Sprints, Winged Mini-Sprints, Street Stocks and Hobby Stocks. Somewhat surprisingly the track was tacky and racy from the git go, which was not an easy task with the temps being near 100 the last few day. HHS track prep master Paul Wilson has done an outstanding job all year getting the track ready for Saturdays shows. At the end of the Sprint Car main there was actually moisture coming up through the surface and Paul was out working the track before the crowd had left the track.
The Sprints had a very good field of 21 cars, down a couple due to a Winged show in Show Low Arizona and an injury to regular driver Ted McAdams who sustained a wrist injury at Aztec Speedway a couple of weeks ago. Heat #1 had 7 cars with the top 5 fighting for the win to the very end. This race had only 1 yellow flag as the hard charging #7 of Jason Tanner who was literally backing his car into the turns spun. At the checkered the #40X of Scott box took a very close win over the #29 of Ronnie Smith with #11W of Tim West coming home in the 3rd spot and the #78 of Jody Williams taking 4th. These 4 cars were within a half dozen car lengths of each other at the stripe. Heat #2 had only 6 cars as the car of Ronnie Smiths dad Randy was not able to make the call. These 6 cars ran side by side the entire race without a caution period. A new comer to this division was Mini-Sprint driver, 16 year old Cody Mansfield driving in his first Sprint car race. Cody did a great job and ran with the pack right to the end. The #X611 of long time racer Bo Baker took the win over the #9X of Kelly Denison with the #93 of Jon Taylor taking 3rd. Heat #3 saw another long time racer and Fighter Jet pilot Tom Ball (#16) take the win over Jessie Baker ( son of Bo ) with the #52 of Santa Fe’s David Burns taking the show position. All three heat races saw lots of 2 & 3 wide racing. The Main Event saw 20 of the 21 cars make the start as the #21 of Paul Whitehead was not able to make the call. Ex-World of Outlaws driver Johnny Herrera who had won all of the previous Main Events was not in the field tonight so there was going to be a first time winner for the year. There were several drivers up for the challenge, and challenge they did with some of the most exciting racing you could hope to see. The Main got off to a great start and ran several laps before the first of 3 yellow flags slowed the action. Kelly Denison jumped out to an early lead from his second row outside start and steadily pulled away from the field. There were several cars fighting for the 2nd spot not far behind Denison. In the end Denison was able to take his first win of the season over the #40X of Scott Box with the #29 of Ronnie Smith, #77 Colt Treharn and #11W of Tim West filling out the top 5 spots.
Thanks to all of the Drivers, Crews, Sponsors, Fans and Staff at Hollywood Hills Speedway for another great night of dirt track racing in New Mexico. Be sure and come out next Saturday when the Sprint Cars will again be on the program as well as the Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks and the Legends for the first of only two of their appearances at HHS this year.
Non-Winged Sprints
Heat #1
#40X Scott Box, #29 Ronnie Smith, #11W Tim West, #78 Jody Williams, #7 Jason Tanner, #16P Billy Page, #24 Russell Gossett
Heat #2
611X Bo Baker, #9X Kelly Denison, #93 Jon Taylor, #01 Larry Stoerkel, #11M Cody Mansfield, #17 Chris Spiak, #26 Randy Smith – DNS
Heat #3
#16 Tom Ball, #22 Jessie Baker, #52 David Burns, #77 Colt Treharn, #65 Rick Johnson, #35 Derrik Ortega, #21 Paul Whitehead – DNS
Main Event
#9X Kelly Denison – May have had something for Herrera tonight
#40X Scott Box – Close but had to battle several cars for 2nd spot
#29 Ronnie Smith – Never far from the front, a win should come soon
#77 Colt Treharn – Great run from first hear teenage driver
#11W Tim West – Always near the front, could fight Smith for win soon
#22 Jessie Baker – Good come back from early spon
#611X Bo Baker – Good Father and Son duel
#01 Larry Stoerkel – Led a couple of times early
#52 David Burns
#93 Jon Taylor
#35 Derrik Ortega
#17 Chris Spiak
#78 Jody Williams – DNF
#16 Tom Ball – DNF
#16P Billy Page – DNF
#11M Cody Mansfield – DNF
#7 Jason Tanner – DNF
#24 Russell Gossett – DNF
#65 Rick Johnson – DNF
#26 Randy Smith – DNS
#21 Paul Whitehead – DNS
These results are unofficial and we apologize for any errors in names or finishing positions.
|
